Uttar Pradesh: Rift in the Yadav family widens

Lucknow, Oct 13: There appears to be no end to the Yadav family feud in Uttar Pradesh. The divide was visible clearly at the event held to mark the 49th death anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia, the Samajwadi Party's ideologue.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav reached the venue early and left before his father Mulayam Singh Yadav could arrive.

When Akhilesh Yadav left the venue, he was joined by his supporters from the youth wing of the party. By the time Mulayam Singh arrived with his brother Shivpal Yadav, most of the chairs at the event were empty.

Mulayam arrived at the venue an hour late.

The Yadav family feud was out in the open recently when Akhilesh dropped his uncle Shivpal from the cabinet.

After Mulayam stepped him, not only did he restore the cabinet portfolio of his younger brother Shivpal, but also made him the SP chief while removing Akhilesh from the post.

While making an indirect reference to Amar Singh, Akhilesh had hinted that it was the outsiders who were behind this.

In UP, several leaders of the party speak about the rift widening. They say that the decisions taken by Akhilesh are very often overlooked by Shivpal, who has the complete backing of Mulayam Singh.

For instance, the merger of the Quami Ekta Dal with SP was a decision taken by Shivpal. The merger had been called off in June with Akhilesh expressing reservations over the leader of the QED, Mukthar Ansari, a don turned politician.